… in a prison cel, too small to stand up, too small to lay down, no light, no conversations, no protection against summer warmth nor winters cold, bad food … here are the prisoners of TAZMAMART !!! Nobody knew where they where! They didn’t know that… for 18 years!!!!
Tazmamart was a secret prison in south-eastern Morocco at the Atlas Mountains, holding political prisoners. 58 army officers were sent toTazmamart Prison, built in 1972, after the second failed coup d’etat against the late Hassan II of Morocco. During the 1980s, there were allegations about the existence of a prison called Tazmamart. Authorities (or Makhzen) were denying all of those allegations. It was not until the publishing of the book Notre ami le Roi (Our friend the King) by French journalist Gilles Perrault in 1990 that the issue was raised to a political level.
In 1991, and after pressure from international human rights groups and some foreign governments, Hassan II of Morocco decided to close down the prison and release the last remaining detainees.
According to some former detainees and human rights groups, conditions at Tazmamart were extremely harsh. While torture and ill treatment occurred, the appalling prison conditions were the biggest threat to the lives of inmates.
The prisoners were put in cramped single-person underground cells 24 hours a day. They were allowed no human contact, no light, and very little in the way of food or protection from the summer heat, or winter cold. There was no medical treatment for damages caused by torture and diseases like tuberculosis. Also, the food rations were minimal. There are also allegations of executions. All in all, 35 prisoners, or more than half of the people incarcerated at Tazmamart during the eighteen years died, before the prison was finally closed in 1991. (wiki)
Ali Bourequat
amnesty international on the case
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